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Leveraging Your Green Material Network
An effective information network must comprise the right people, so be clear about your search. Define for yourself what a green material is, and let that framework guide the development of your network. We prefer materials that contain recycled and/or downcycled content, repurpose waste, arise from rapidly renewable sources, reduce the use of virgin materials, and rethink the very nature of a product from a life-cycle assessment perspective. Find materials that meet your own standards and get to know the manufacturers. Share with them your criteria, how you envision their product supporting your endeavors, and any concerns you may have about those products, especially if their current offerings do not meet your ideal needs.
Assess your sampling process within that same framework. Consider making aesthetic decisions based on images alone. If you truly need samples, be careful: request those that won’t deplete a manufacturer’s inventory and offer to pay for production floor scraps of rare materials. For example, a free sample of a recycled plastic product is probably readily available. But, non-petrified wood recovered from ancient peat bogs is scarce, so for a first look at the product, buy a few milling scraps.
Information management is critical. Work with manufacturers to gather as many details as possible, and create a database. Include basic product specs, but go deeper: list where the raw components originate, how they are packaged and shipped, whether there is a take-back program, etc. Include information on the manufacturing process, fabrication limitations, and delivery time-frames. A “preferred products” database will be a win-win situation for you and the product manufacturer. You will have immediate access to great products, and will grow the manufacturer’s own market. Become an advocate, and you can even provide vital, free, word-of-mouth marketing.
Your network can give you advanced knowledge of new product development. Communicate that you want to be the first to know about any new product, and you will receive details before any of it is out for public consumption. By knowing what’s coming, you can start incorporating brand new materials into projects. Manufacturers benefit as well, immediately generating buzz about their work and building a market for a product upon its release. Advanced knowledge will give you crucial information about delivery timeframes and pricing. You will know when to place an order so as to get the material on time, and depending on where you intend to use it, you can potentially influence pricing. If you are the first to showcase it within an environment, that has value to the manufacturer. You are providing an immediate success story that can be used for the product’s own future marketing. If manufacturers recognize that value, they may be willing to lower their price just for you.
One challenge to using green materials is their limited availability. Take that as an opportunity to work closely with small operators. Without compromising the quality, beauty, and environmentally responsible integrity of a product, see if you can brainstorm together on how to boost production. Small modifications could give manufacturers a more streamlined and cheaper process, launching them into bigger arenas. This can also usher you into the product development process. You are best positioned to detect gaps in the green product market. Identify needs and reach out to your network. Your expertise, combined with that of manufacturers, can have you working on proprietary materials with mutual financial benefit.
A partnership at that level can bring about one of the most needed changes in the green product market. There is a pervasive perception that green products are too expensive. That can be the case, but often it’s because we want to purchase from small, two-person artisan workshops as if they were multinational corporations. By getting the word out about the environmental benefits of a product, finding ways to make them faster and cheaper, understanding limitations, and developing new products, you and your green network can ultimately fight that perception.
An end result such as that will be beneficial to our industry in general. The relationships you establish can and should lead to all these and more mutual benefits. By building and leveraging a powerful network, you can become a recognizable force as our industry continues to explore the depth of our impact on the environment and to implement strategies to mitigate it.
Written by Kevin O’Donnell and R. Aleida Montejo.
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